The pain of travelling to Nigeria
Jan 16, 2004
Until I was thoroughly checked by hotel staff on my way out of some dingy Lagos facility, I had never even known that guests often clear out of hotels cutlery, slippers and other petty room items
By Felix Osike
Until I was thoroughly checked by hotel staff on my way out of some dingy Lagos facility, I had never even known that guests often clear out of hotels cutlery, slippers and other petty room items.
My recent trip to cover the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Abuja threw me headlong into experiences you can never get, except when travelling in Nigeria.
Minelle Fernandez of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s had warned, “Travel safe and do not venture into Lagos unless you are met. It can be dangerous for someone not familiar with the city. Also for those travelling through Lagos keep your luggage to the minimum so you get through faster.â€
Lagos, one of Africa’s biggest cities, with 10million people, is famous for its sprawling filth, squalid congestion, distinctive yellow buses (called molues), 1970-model minibuses (dunfos) and passenger service motorcycles known as okada. The okada are similar to the bodaboda of Kampala.
In Lagos, as in other busy commercial cities everyone is always in hurry. One driver remarked: “In Lagos, making money is the name of the game. If you don’t hurry up, the money will leave you behind.â€
Nigerian food is generally tasty but for goat eaters – the skin is not removed.
Beware petty theft, pick-pocketing and muggings are common. A notice in one of the hotels read, “Leave all your valuables at the reception. Sometimes some people who have checked in as guests have carried away the hotel cutlery and bedding.â€
So there are vigorous checks before you leave some of the hotels just in case you have pocketed a spoon. With no direct flight to West Africa from Entebbe I was left with only the Kenya and Ethiopian Airlines options. On December 1, I hit the road for Entebbe airport to catch the 5:30pm flight to Addis.
Our first encounter of trouble was at the newly built Bole International Airport in Addis. Our flight was scheduled for 2:55am. We had been assured that we would be given vouchers to go and chill in one of the city hotels until that time.
But when we got there those responsible melted away leaving us stranded in the arrival lounge. Only passengers on first and club class were whisked away to a posh hotel.
Some frequent travellers on this route knew the trick. They demanded that we be taken to a city hotel for dinner. After a bitter quarrel with officials which almost led to a fight, we were taken to a third class hotel and served with cold food which some of us refused to eat.
We left Addis at 3:00am arriving at Murtalla Muhammed International Airport Lagos at about 6:30am. This is where you get your first experience of Nigeria. Immigration clearance was relaxed for us transferring to Abuja for the meeting. However, complaints of passengers waiting for their luggage for over two hours are common.
Outside the airport, people claiming to be receiving passengers were struggling to grab our luggage. I was hassled by the taxi touts as soon as I got out of the airport lounge each wanting me to board his taxi.
In Lagos and Abuja alike, Nigerians are very helpful, for a fee. The fellow who points to you a forex bureau, the other who tells you the name of your street, even one who tells you how to get on a city bus – they all demand pay. “Oga (man), I want my tip-give me ma tip, give me monie,†they are sure to say in the end.
Now that we were in Abuja, our return became even more uncertain. Having left the hotel at 5:45am, we were eager to catch a flight home only to get stuck in Lagos for the next 32 hours.
If we had known that to skip the queue you need to pay a few nairas here and there perhaps New Vision photojournalist Peter Busomoke and myself would have come away earlier.
But we missed our flight, and we were told that the next available flight would be four days late and that we would have to stay in Lagos at our own expense. Even Uganda’s Foreign affairs officials, the Presidential Guard Brigade and the Presidential Press unit were also stranded, though they had their flight confirmed.
We were advised to go to the Ethiopian Airlines office located at Victoria Island off the Atlantic Ocean. That is 50km from the airport via one of the longest bridges in Africa, stretching over 20km. There, we were told we were not on the list. We were then told to try on Saturday December 13.
After pleading with the Airlines officials we were told to go back at 4:00pm. When we went back at 4:00pm our booking had been made. We spent a night off the Atlantic ocean coast.
The following morning we were the first in the queue. But as expected at 9:00am we are informed that the Ethiopian Airlines flight had been delayed and would leave at 4:30pm.
At 5:00pm we sighed with relief as the Ethiopian Airline Boeing 767 landed. We had had enough of Nigeria.
Until I was thoroughly checked by hotel staff on my way out of some dingy Lagos facility, I had never even known that guests often clear out of hotels cutlery, slippers and other petty room items.
My recent trip to cover the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Abuja threw me headlong into experiences you can never get, except when travelling in Nigeria.
Minelle Fernandez of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s had warned, “Travel safe and do not venture into Lagos unless you are met. It can be dangerous for someone not familiar with the city. Also for those travelling through Lagos keep your luggage to the minimum so you get through faster.â€
Lagos, one of Africa’s biggest cities, with 10million people, is famous for its sprawling filth, squalid congestion, distinctive yellow buses (called molues), 1970-model minibuses (dunfos) and passenger service motorcycles known as okada. The okada are similar to the bodaboda of Kampala.
In Lagos, as in other busy commercial cities everyone is always in hurry. One driver remarked: “In Lagos, making money is the name of the game. If you don’t hurry up, the money will leave you behind.â€
Nigerian food is generally tasty but for goat eaters – the skin is not removed.
Beware petty theft, pick-pocketing and muggings are common. A notice in one of the hotels read, “Leave all your valuables at the reception. Sometimes some people who have checked in as guests have carried away the hotel cutlery and bedding.â€
So there are vigorous checks before you leave some of the hotels just in case you have pocketed a spoon. With no direct flight to West Africa from Entebbe I was left with only the Kenya and Ethiopian Airlines options. On December 1, I hit the road for Entebbe airport to catch the 5:30pm flight to Addis.
Our first encounter of trouble was at the newly built Bole International Airport in Addis. Our flight was scheduled for 2:55am. We had been assured that we would be given vouchers to go and chill in one of the city hotels until that time.
But when we got there those responsible melted away leaving us stranded in the arrival lounge. Only passengers on first and club class were whisked away to a posh hotel.
Some frequent travellers on this route knew the trick. They demanded that we be taken to a city hotel for dinner. After a bitter quarrel with officials which almost led to a fight, we were taken to a third class hotel and served with cold food which some of us refused to eat.
We left Addis at 3:00am arriving at Murtalla Muhammed International Airport Lagos at about 6:30am. This is where you get your first experience of Nigeria. Immigration clearance was relaxed for us transferring to Abuja for the meeting. However, complaints of passengers waiting for their luggage for over two hours are common.
Outside the airport, people claiming to be receiving passengers were struggling to grab our luggage. I was hassled by the taxi touts as soon as I got out of the airport lounge each wanting me to board his taxi.
In Lagos and Abuja alike, Nigerians are very helpful, for a fee. The fellow who points to you a forex bureau, the other who tells you the name of your street, even one who tells you how to get on a city bus – they all demand pay. “Oga (man), I want my tip-give me ma tip, give me monie,†they are sure to say in the end.
Now that we were in Abuja, our return became even more uncertain. Having left the hotel at 5:45am, we were eager to catch a flight home only to get stuck in Lagos for the next 32 hours.
If we had known that to skip the queue you need to pay a few nairas here and there perhaps New Vision photojournalist Peter Busomoke and myself would have come away earlier.
But we missed our flight, and we were told that the next available flight would be four days late and that we would have to stay in Lagos at our own expense. Even Uganda’s Foreign affairs officials, the Presidential Guard Brigade and the Presidential Press unit were also stranded, though they had their flight confirmed.
We were advised to go to the Ethiopian Airlines office located at Victoria Island off the Atlantic Ocean. That is 50km from the airport via one of the longest bridges in Africa, stretching over 20km. There, we were told we were not on the list. We were then told to try on Saturday December 13.
After pleading with the Airlines officials we were told to go back at 4:00pm. When we went back at 4:00pm our booking had been made. We spent a night off the Atlantic ocean coast.
The following morning we were the first in the queue. But as expected at 9:00am we are informed that the Ethiopian Airlines flight had been delayed and would leave at 4:30pm.
At 5:00pm we sighed with relief as the Ethiopian Airline Boeing 767 landed. We had had enough of Nigeria.